


But If I Could Be Like You

by roserelease



Series: Mermaid/Sea Witch AU [1]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Fanart, Gen, One-Sided Attraction, fic with art, mermaid au, sea witch au, sea witch!yuuri, selkie!guangong, selkie!minami
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-02
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-25 22:14:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13844103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roserelease/pseuds/roserelease
Summary: "There wasn’t much Minami was certain of. At seventeen, he was painfully aware of how little he knew. But this much he did know to be true: to be a Sea Witch would be happiness itself."Or: the story of how Minami meets a Sea Witch.[Fic + accompanying art]





	But If I Could Be Like You

Minami Kenjirou had never met a Sea Witch before.

He’d heard tales around the campfire, stories woven quietly into the late of night about special beings who could shapeshift, who could pull magical light seemingly out of nowhere and craft it into physical objects. Those who studied and knew old remedies from ages long past, and some who were even smart and clever enough to create new ones for new problems. Magical beings beyond compare.

Minami’s heart sung at these tales. His mind would inevitably wander off into new fantasies where he meets such a person, where sometimes he even is that person. He could lose himself for hours in such day dreams.

His selkie elders often sighed at him, reminding him again and again that it was rare to find a Sea Witch in their parts, that he’d have an easier time meeting the King and Queen. Sea Witches kept to themselves. Most lived in secrecy, away from those who would suspect them of ill-intent.

But that didn’t deter Minami in the slightest. The reality of the situation didn’t make his day dreams any less sweet or desirable, though neither did it make the longing in him ache any less.

There wasn’t much Minami was certain of. At seventeen, he was painfully aware of how little he knew. But this much he did know to be true: to be a Sea Witch would be happiness itself.

-

One day, a couple of selkie pups went missing. 

Swam too far out and perhaps gotten lost, the elders guessed. It had happened several times before, despite the constant warnings not to stray too far unsupervised from the island and their home waters. 

Everyone was immediately split up into groups of two or three and sent out to find them. Minami’s group swam far out and called out the pup’s names, pausing only to listen for a reply. Eventually they heard a distant crying, pleas for help and family. Their cries spurned Minami into racing towards the direction they came from, his friends following closely behind.

That’s when they found the pups. Tangled in a lost and floating net, too panicked to work together or remember their elder’s teachings. Blood trickled lazily upwards from thin cuts made from the net digging into their writhing seal bodies.

Minami nearly squirmed at the sight. He himself had never gotten entangled in such a net, but he’d witnessed friends become ensnared before and it had not been pretty. They’d been lucky that older and experienced selkies had been nearby to help free them. But there were no others save for them for miles around, and if they weren’t quick now, predator’s would smell the blood and be drawn in for an easy meal.

Minami spun around and faced one of his friends. “Go get help! Anyone you can find. We’ll stay and try to cut open the net.” He turned to his other friend. “Guang Hong, try and hold them still enough for to me to bite open the net. Maybe distract them?”

The pups whimpered. Minami swam up to them and gently shushed them. “Don’t worry, everything will be okay. We’ll get you out.”

Or it would have been okay, if not a whole lot easier, if the pups could calm down. It was hard to gnaw at the netting with flippers constantly smacking him upside the head, inadvertently shoving him away from the mess of netting and selkies. Guang Hong was having a hell of a time trying to talk the pups down. The pups cries and squirming had only gotten louder and more desperate now that help had arrived.

Minami huffed. “Relax, already! We’re here to help! If only our teeth were sharper...”

Guang Hong let out a small gasp. “Um, Minami?”

“Then we could cut it faster...”

His friend’s nose nudged him insistently. “Minami.”

“Huh? Did you say some--” Minami drawled off as his gaze fell further behind his friend. His other friend had already returned, and with... Minami wasn’t sure what to call them. 

His eyes honed in immediately on black tentacles, long and speckled with small silver spots, that swayed behind them as they moved gracefully through the water. Then they fell on the black marking that traveled from where the tentacles ended and a human-esque body began, up and over their torso and down along their left arm and right shoulder. Silver jewels -- were they jewels? -- that were somehow attached to the inner part of their hips and right shoulder glittered brilliantly. 

That’s when Minami’s eyes traveled over the face of their strange guest, where he met warm brown eyes that shone even more beautifully than the jewels applied to their body. Was that even possible? There was no way this person could get any more attractive than they already were.

“You needed help?” the stranger said, and oh gods, even his voice was smooth and pleasant to listen to. Minami’s heart thudded violently against his ribcage, and despite being completely submerged in water, his mouth suddenly felt dry as sand.

Minami could only swallow and nod.

The stranger swam closer, so, so gracefully, almost brushing up against Minami in the process, and he began to assess the net and its prisoners. After what seemed like the longest minute ever, the stranger held out a hand, finger and thumb pinched together. He slowly pulled his hand down through the water, and as he did a thin silver light followed in its place, until out of nowhere the stranger had produced a small dagger.

That’s when it clicked in Minami’s head. 

A Sea Witch.

Easy work was made of the netting in no time. The stranger sliced through it in different sections, careful to avoid slitting the pups squirming bodies, until the pups were able to slip free. There wasn’t any time to ask the pups if they were all right for they were already shooting up towards the surface. Minami’s friends followed closely after them, no doubt to console (and then probably chastise) them after the whole ordeal.

That left Minami alone with the (Gorgeous! Stunning! What were words?!) stranger.

Minami stared awkwardly up into the stranger’s deep eyes before he finally summoned the courage to properly open his mouth and make his attempt at words.

“You’re... You’re a...”

The stranger smiled, small and polite, and gave a nod of his head, as though instinctively understanding the awkward predicament Minami was in. (But he couldn’t! Could he? Could Sea Witches read minds?!)

“My name is Eros,” the Sea Witch said. “Is your home far from here?”

\--

The colony took to Eros immediately. From the moment he rose from the water -- tentacles suddenly gone and replaced by human legs, with only a long black sheet with eight slits cut into it and the same silver spots as his tenacles draped around his waist -- the entire colony couldn’t help but stare and fawn endlessly over him. They’d never seen anyone else shed (well, a part of) their sea body before. And yet here this person stood, not unlike them!

The elders praised Eros’s abilities. Thanked him over and over again for rescusing their young before then overwhelming him with questions such as who he was, what exactly he was, and why he was in the area to begin with. As if the answer wasn’t staring them straight in the eyes, because it couldn’t possibly be true, could it?

And yet Eros took each question with stride, giving them answers that revealed just enough to sate their curiosity without revealing too much. Too in awe were the colony to really notice the carefully vague responses they recieved. They only seemed pleased that Eros was there and in their presence.

“A Sea Witch!” Minami hissed to his friends as they stood back and watched the scenario taking place. “An actual, live Sea Witch!”

“I heard you the first dozen times,” Guang Hong whispered back, his voice exasperated but his eyes not once leaving Eros’s elegant form. Nobody could look away from the handsome Witch in their midst.

Minami itched to get closer. What he wouldn’t give to have a moment alone with him. “Do you think he’d teach me?”

His friends snapped their eyes onto him and hissed all in unison, “Are you serious?!”

“He’s got better things to do than hang around here.”

“He’s probably too busy. Just look at him! I bet he works with royalty,” Guang Hong whispered. “All the best Sea Witches do.”

“Not true,” Minami replied, eyes locked on the way Eros’ hands moved through the air when he tried to explain something to one of the elders. He could watch such simple, fluid motions all night and not once get bored. “A bunch of them live in hiding. I bet there’s a ton of amazing ones that no one even knows about.” A sudden thought stole Minami’s breath away. “Guys! What if he’s one of ‘em!”

His friends collectively sighed. 

“Fanboy,” Guang Hong sighed.

Minami bit his lip, the need to get closer and speak to Eros only worsening. He had to know if it was possible. He may never get a chance like this again! He couldn’t let it slip through his fingers. He wouldn’t. 

He just needed to be patient.

(Somehow.)

\--

The half-full moon crested over the dark sky and was inching its way back down to the horizon when Minami finally gathered the courage to approach Eros with his proposition. The entire colony had all finally fallen asleep, most of them lying near the bonfire. The rescued pups slept closest to Eros, nearly curled up against his sitting form, the flipper of one lying almost possessively across Eros’s lap. Eros didn’t appear to mind, or if he did he was awfully good at hiding it. 

Minami watched Eros from where he lay, taking in his gentle features, the way the fire danced so brightly in his eyes. The only sounds were the water gently lapping at the shore and the sharp crackle of the fire, the slight huffing or snort of a nearby colony member. His own carefully steady breathing.

It was just him and Eros, no one else. 

Minami took a shuddering breath. It was now or never. Slowly, he sat up.

Immediately Eros turned to him, expression neutral as he watched Minami rise onto his knees and shuffle tentatively forward.

“Um. Mr. Eros...”

“‘Eros’ is fine.”

“R-Right.” Minami took another breath. How could his stomach feel so fluttery and his chest so tight? “Eros, I... uh...”

Eros remained still and quiet, staring at him without expectation. Somehow that made the fluttering in Minami’s stomach worse.

Just say it! Before he slips back under the tides and disappears forever!

“It’s all right,” Eros said, voice hushed and private. “Whatever it is you want to say can wait till morning, if --”

“No!” Minami blurted, then slapped his hands over his big, dumb mouth. His eyes darted over the sleeping forms of his colony mates. The panic slowly subsided when he realized no one had woken at his outburt.

“I mean,” Minami tried again, “I -- I have to ask now.”

Eros’s brow rose, but he continued to wait patiently.

“I...” Hands fisted at his side, almost shaking with how badly he wanted this. His brain chose then to supply the image of Eros disappearing beneath the waves forever, giving him just the jolt of panic and desperation he needed to act. Minami took a breath and rushed out, “Please take me on as your apprentice!”

He hadn’t been able to look Eros in the eyes when he pleaded, they were too glued to his sand-dusted knees, but when he finally tore them up and dared to look Eros in the eyes, Minami couldn’t help but feel a little dumb-founded at how wide-eyed and horrified Eros looked.

“Um. Did you he--”

“Yes, I did.”

“Oh.” Minami gulped. Waited. Then couldn’t wait any longer. “It’s a no, isn’t it.”

Eros’ eyes fell, staring seemingly nowhere. “I don’t understand why you’re asking me of all people.”

“Why wouldn’t I?!” Minami blurted for the second time that night, this time not caring that he might wake anyone within a five mile radius of them. “I’ve always wanted to be like you. For as long as I can remember, it’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

“Why?”

“Why?” Minami mirrored back. “That’s -- that’s too big a question. More like ‘why not’? Think of all the cool things you can do!” No, no, that wasn’t entirely it. Be honest. Minami quickly wet his dry lips. “Not to mention having a Sea Witch around here would be really helpful. You’re the first one this colony has seen in forever, y’know? The elders were so sure that your kind didn’t really exist anymore. But I always believed! I never stopped believing.”

Eros glanced away, eyes searching out over the night-blackened water. “You make it sound like a fairy tale.”

“Isn’t it?”

Something like a smile passed over Eros’ lips. When he turned back to Minami, there was something in his expression that had his insides turn into ice. His face fell before he even had to hear the words.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t help you.”

\--

Needless to say, Minami didn’t sleep for the rest of the night. Too embarrassed to move, Minami laid there like a log in the woods, back to Eros, arms wrapped tightly around himself. Against his better wishes, he couldn’t help but pick up on every slight noise behind him, as though some part of him deep down was waiting and listening for Eros to gently turn him over and say the words he’d wished so hard for. As if that would erase the last couple of hours of his life. But that moment never came and before Minami knew it, morning had arrived and everyone was waking up.

Stiff and achey, when Minami did finally roll over and dared to glance to where Eros had been the night before, he couldn’t help the hurt he felt to see that Eros was no longer there.

“He’s not gone,” Guang Hong said over breakfast (or rather what was fish just sitting in Minami’s hands because he couldn’t bring himself to even take a measly bite.) “I saw him talking to the elders before he left, I think he’s just checking the area out.” 

Minami let out a noncommittal hum.

Guang Hong shuffled closer to his friend, his voice lowered almost conspiratorially. “You know, I bet he’s looking for something. Why else would he come all the way out here of all places? Though I’m not sure what he’d find here. There’s, like, nothing.”

“Nothing but plants and junk,” Minami agreed solemnly. Then his eyes widened and his mouth dropped. “No, wait. That’s exactly it! He must be looking for ingredients for potions and stuff!”

“Oh, that could be it. We do have some weird plants -- hey, where are you going?! Aren’t you going to even eat your breakfast?”

“You can have it!” Minami shouted as he darted straight for the woods, nearly running over a couple of pubs in the process. Maybe Eros wouldn’t take just anyone on as an apprentice, and that was fair, but he’d have to change his mind if he saw how useful and knowledgable Minami could be!

\--

“Oh, gods. I’m lost.”

Minami spun around, but every angle of the forest looked the same. He’d taken a few turns, maybe seen that tree a few times. Now he wasn’t sure which direction he’d originally came from, or how to get back to the beach.

And the worst part of the whole thing: he hadn’t found Eros at all.

(Second worst was that he was starving.)

Minami’s eyes stung. He wiped furiously at his face as he continued to march onwards. “Stupid, stupid, stupid. He’s probably long gone by no -- ”

The ground disappeared from beneath Minami’s feet and he fell forward.

Minami hissed at the pain that shot through his knee, which had scrapped across a jagged rock that stuck out of the ground of where he’d landed. He pulled himself up and leaned back against the small yet rather steep hill he’d slipped off of and examined his wounded knee. It was slathered with dirt, and in the middle of it all was the cut, sleek and thick with blood.

Minami took a deep, trembling breath. He had to calm down. So he was alone and slipped and got hurt, that wasn’t such a big deal. Except it felt exactly like it was, like this was the major proof of what a failure he was.

Minami scrubbed at his burning eyes for the second time that day. No! He wasn’t a failure. An embarrassment, maybe, but not a failure. So he was stuck in the middle of several problems. He had the solution to at least one of them, if he could calm himself down enough to concentrate.

(And maybe the solution itself was still difficult to work with, but that was okay. No time like the present for practice.)

Minami gave himself a few minutes to just breathe, to try and clear his head of all negative thoughts. He focused instead on the feeling of the grass under his hands, the cool dirt against his skin, the sun peaking through the treetops. Soon the panicked buzzing beneath his skin eased and he was able to focus.

“Okay,” he breathed. “I’m okay. I can fix this.”

Wiping away as much of the dirt from his knee as possible, Minami covered his wound with the flat of his palm, his fingers curling to cup the rest of his knee. He then pressed firmly against the wound and continued to do so despite the protesting sting his body released. He shut his eyes tightly and began to picture his knee as he wanted it: the cut closed, blood gone, preferably pain free. 

Before long Minami began to recognize the tell-tale signs that something was working. His hand felt warm, and that warmth spread from his palm over into his knee, where his skin began to feel tight, like something was pulling on it from the inside. Minami bit back a curse and pushed onwards. Pushed and pushed until his lungs cried out for air. He gasped and finally opened his eyes. Carefully, he lifted his hand from his knee, the skin feeling almost stuck together as he did so, until he was able to peak at the wound. Or what had been the wound. Where the cut had been was now only a short pink and irritated line. Most of the blood was even gone, too!

Minami couldn’t help but smile at his accomplishment. He’d never gotten a scrape or cut to look that clean and healed before! That meant he was improving. It had to!

“Where did you learn to do that?”

Minami shrieked. He scrambled away from the hill on all fours, only to realize when he turned and looked up that it was only Eros standing above him, one hand resting on his silver bag and his head tilted to the side almost curiously.

(“Only” Eros, his brain chastised.)

Minami shuffled around until he properly faced Eros, careful of his still not quite pain-free knee. “I, uh. Kind of taught myself?”

“Taught yourself,” Eros echoed.

“Pretty much? Okay, I kind of got the basic jist of it from stories I’ve been told my entire life, but no one has really taught me anything. Nobody here knows anything.”

“But you figured out how to heal yourself all on your own,” Eros said, more to himself than to Minami. He hopped off the small hill and landed next to Minami. “May I see?”

“Uh, sure,” Minami said, swallowing thickly. “Knock yourself out. Not literally, though!”

Eros snorted (actually snorted! Did that really happen or did Minami just make that up in his head? Do hot Sea Witches regularly make undignified nosies?) and set about checking Minami’s knee. His soft hand smoothed back as much dirt as possible and gently pressed against the faint pink line, his eyes meeting Minami’s as he watched for any response. Being touched like this, even just being this close, it was making Minami’s head swim.

“No pain?”

“A little,” Minami admitted quietly, scared to speak too loudly lest it shatter whatever moment this was. “Is it... possible to do this and take away all of the pain too?”

“If you know what you’re doing. I noticed you forgot to breathe during. If you’re not careful, you can pass out that way.”

“Oh.” It felt harder to breathe now. Minami forced himself through the rhythmic actions so as not to pass out and end this moment sooner than it needed to.

“Here,” Eros said, pressing his hand against Minami’s knee the same way he had earlier. “Watch.” He closed his eyes, inhaled deeply through his nose, then slowly exhaled through his mouth. Minami felt a faint warmth, much gentler than the one from before, spread across and sink deep into his skin. A moment passed before Eros lifted his hand, revealing Minami’s completely healed knee. No scar at all!

Minami’s mouth dropped. “Wow! You did that like it was nothing.”

The corner of Eros’ mouth turned upwards. “It’s not that hard, not really.”

Please teach me! Minami wanted to beg, but he held himself back at the last possible moment, teeth digging deep into his lip to keep himself quiet. 

Eros glanced away, no doubt sensing the desperation rising in Minami’s body. He slowly stood up, dusted his hands off against the black and silver wrap around his waist.

“Does anyone in your colony know you can do this?”

Minami shook his head. “I tried once, on a friend who got hurt a while back. But I couldn’t make it work.”

“Nerves?”

“Maybe,” Minami admitted. Just thinking about how badly they’d fought after his attempt made him want to pull his hair out. “I swore up and down that I could do it, but he just claimed that I let all this Sea Witch business get to my head.” He swallowed. “I wanted to help him so much, and I couldn’t do it... I felt so useless.”

A heavy silence fell over them. The longer it stayed, the more tense Minami felt. How could he have said something so stupid in front of someone like Eros? He didn’t care about Minami’s personal problems, and he certainly didn’t need to hear about them.

Ugh. Just another incidence of him acting before thinking.

“Um.” Minami forced himself to look back at Eros, who was looking at him... kinda strangely? Was there something on his face. Minami wiped at his cheeks, hoping nothing was there. He didn’t need the extra help in the embarrassment department. “So, uh, did you find what you were looking for?”

“I found you,” Eros answered, not quite smirking. “Everyone told me you’d run off after me, so I had to come find you.”

Minami flushed. “Before that, I mean. You were looking for something in here, weren’t you?”

Eros opened his silver bag and pulled out a small bundle of flowers, their petals large and curling, a lovely lilac in colour, their stems a deep and healthy green. Eros had tied a silver ribbon around the stems to help keep them together.

“Oh, wow,” Minami breathed. “I’ve never seen those around here before.”

“They were well hidden,” Eros said, carefully sliding them back into the bag. “They’re not very common, and they require very specific conditions to grow properly. This is the only place I’ve been able to find them so far.”

“Guess that explains why I’ve never seen them before,” Minami said with a faint laugh.

Eros hummed softly. He rubbed his hands together (almost nervously? But that seemed impossible, how could someone like Eros get nervous?)

“Minami?”

“Yes!” Minamo replied, maybe too eagerly. It occurred to him that this was the first time he’d heard his name on Eros’ lips. He wanted to hear it again.

“I was thinking...”

“Yes?”

“About your request last night...”

Minami’s heart pouded violently against his ribcage. “Yes?!”

Eros sighed. “Let me think it over. That doesn’t mean an automatic yes, mind you.”

“But a ‘maybe,’” Minami clarified. That was more than he could possibly ever hoped for. He immediately bowed his head. “Thank you for considering me! I promise if you say yes, I won’t let you down!”

Eros’ expression softened. “I know you won’t.”

 

-

 

Eros left later that night, after what felt like an hour of good-byes and promises to visit again in the future. The pups protested the loudest, but the Elders also appeared to have a hard time letting Eros inch any closer to the water. They kept coming up with new questions to ask, new ways to reaffirm that they could be considered allies, that there were things that would be shared in the future, that Eros would be there in the future. Minami didn’t know how Eros was able to bear the weight of everyone’s expectations on him, but he did, his calm demeanor not once cracking under the pressure.

When Eros finally glanced his way, as his toes finally touched the cool waters, Minami simply smiled and waved good-bye. He had to be patient. Even if that was the hardest thing in the world. He’d do it for Eros.

Eros smiled back at him, amazingly enough, and then he was walking deeper and deeper into the water. Soon it rose over his head and he was gone.

“How much you wanna bet we scared him off and we never see him again?” Guang Hong whispered to Minami, in the long, stretching silence that followed Eros’ exit.

“We’ll see him again,” Minami whispered back, eyes trained on the spot where Eros had disappeared beneath the gentle, evening waves. “I know it.”

 

\--

 

Months passed and there was no sign of him.

“I think he only said he’d teach you to get you off his back,” Guang Hong said one day, after Minami had finally caved and confided his private experience with Eros to him. He’d clung so tightly to the memory, almost afraid that if anyone else knew the memory would shatter and reveal itself for what it really was: just another day dream. But now that it had been so long, the opposite had become true: he needed someone else to know so that it remained true to him.

“He wouldn’t,” Minami insisted. But did he really know?

Guang Hong kicked a rock on the beach. “Maybe we all made the whole thing up in our heads. Maybe we ate some bad fish.”

Minami shook his head. There was no way he’d made it up. He just had to keep believing.

\--

Another month passed.

There was still no sign of Eros returning. Of him ever having existed.

Maybe... maybe Guang Hong was...

No. Believe. Believe.

\--

One morning, after Minami had stayed up late into the night and wound up sleeping in late into the day, he was gently rocked to consciousness by a soft but firm hand on his shoulder. 

“One more minute,” Minami yawned, rolling away from the hand.

A soft chuckle. “But I thought you were eager to study under me.”

Minami’s eyes snapped open. But that voice was --

“Ah, but if you’d really rather sleep here, then I suppose I can...”

Minami scrambled to his feet. “No, no! I’m up, I’m up!” He felt absolutely horrible, he regretted staying up as late as he did, but none of that seemed to matter in the moment as Minami stared up and into Eros’ warm eyes.

“I’m sorry it took me so long to come back,” Eros said.

Minami hastely shook his head. “No, no, it’s -- thank you. For coming back at all. Does this really mean...?”

Eros smiled, eyes glittering with Minami could only label as mischief. “You have ten minutes to ready yourself, then it’s straight to studying. I warn you now, it won’t be easy. You have a lot of catching up to do.”

It hurt to smile, but Minami couldn’t contain the utter glee exploding inside of him. This was it! Starting today, he was going to become a Sea Witch.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first of what I hope will be a series of shorts exploring the side stuff in my Sea Witch/Mermaid AU. : 3 There will also be fic + art exploring the main story, of course! I just wanted to step away from the story and take a small breather/focus on something not as big as The Banquet comic pages were.
> 
> For anyone wondering where Minami's gold/yellow spots are, as they are seen on other images I've done of him for this AU: he gets them much later on! Sea Witches tend to design/choose their tattoos with their mentors after they've studied for a longer period of time ; 3 so that will be a future thing.
> 
> This is Un-Beta'd and also the first fic I've written in like years, so I apologize if it's less than great. :' D


End file.
